Chapter 39 39: Komuro Takashi’s Rotten Luck

— — — — — — For a solid few dozen minutes, the sky rained arrows like hellfire. Finally, the last chunk of that dark red flesh was turned to stone by Hancock and shattered into pieces. "It's over." / "All clear." With her clairvoyance active, Merlin spoke up at the same time as Veyron, who had his Observation Haki running. Both confirmed the mission was complete. Things went surprisingly smoothly this time—partly thanks to their high-ground advantage. Of course, that blood-colored mass, overflowing with crazed willpower, definitely tried to fight back. It spun webs of flesh to trap them, sent out Lickers with bloody wings for aerial combat, and even stacked massive flesh pillars to steal their height advantage... But Veyron made a quick retreat before they got completely trapped. — — — "Any update on the boxes? Did you get them open?" On the way back to the Amundsen-Scott research station, Veyron turned and asked Merlin. "They're open," Merlin nodded. "There were three boxes total. Two of them held the things I told you about before—forty-four spiral-shaped glass test tubes." "And the third one?" Veyron asked. "That one had documents related to the zombie virus. And a written report by an Umbrella Corporation employee. It explained what the stuff in the other two boxes was for—and what exactly led to this whole mess." Let's start with the big bad behind everything: Umbrella Corporation. Originally, Umbrella was a research institute funded by the American government, created for military biotech research. More specifically, they wanted to achieve controlled human enhancement through genetic programming—essentially, super-soldiers. Even in the 21st century, that kind of thing sounds like Science fiction. So, no surprise—the research failed to produce anything useful. Eventually, the military cut funding. The head of the institute had to pull some strings and found himself a new backer. That backer? An old British noble. That British guy didn't just bring cash—he brought a gift: six spiral test tubes filled with a blue virus, and six matching doses of antidote serum. The nobleman named it the T-virus. And wouldn't you know—it was a perfect fit for the kind of research the lab was already doing. Like destiny, almost. Thanks to that uncanny compatibility, a nobody lab on the verge of collapse turned into a global powerhouse feared by governments around the world. It only took about thirty years. They were never fully shut down either—only partially blacklisted. Why? Because the world realized Umbrella might actually be onto something... something humanity's dreamed of forever: immortality. With that potential on the table—and Umbrella now being too powerful to mess with—governments collectively chose to wait and see. Now, about that nobleman—the one who kicked all this off? He wasn't some naive idealist. He took the most extreme route possible. Umbrella's tech was good enough that they could create custom-made artificial humans—just feed in a few traits and bam, instant tool. So why hold back? The plan was to release the zombie virus worldwide, then go into cryo-sleep with his family and inner circle. When they woke up decades later, the world would be theirs—clean, empty, and ready to rebuild. As for cleaning up the zombie mess afterward? Not necessary. According to Umbrella's research, zombies only crave fresh flesh because they can still find it. Once the food supply runs out, they instinctively cling to walls or shadows and slowly decay over the years. This was due to Umbrella's original research being based on a type of cordyceps fungus. Even after adding the T-virus, some of the fungus's traits stuck. So in theory, if everything had gone as planned, the secret base beneath the Hive would've served as a modern-day Noah's Ark—carrying the chosen survivors from the old world into the new age of gods. But of course... things didn't go as planned. Just like no one expected Umbrella to go full psycho and wipe out billions of people overnight, Umbrella themselves never expected that one high-level employee—someone they handpicked for the new world ticket—would still have a shred of humanity left. That guy woke up early, thanks to some failsafes he had set beforehand. He released a lab subject that Umbrella had discovered years ago—one with partial resistance to the virus. Then he handed over those two boxes—the virus and the serum—to that subject, and entrusted him with a mission: To carry humanity's last hope outside before it was too late. Yep it's that Flesh Plant. "..." "Ugh... why does this suddenly make us feel like the villains?" Veyron muttered with a click of his tongue. He had pretty much pieced together what happened after that—and why the monster back in Raccoon City had gone berserk after losing the boxes. "Can't look at it that way," Hancock said, shaking her head. "Just from the state of Raccoon City—and how that thing acted when it fought us—it's obvious. Even if we hadn't shown up, there was no way he could've saved humanity like that Umbrella employee hoped. If anything, he would've destroyed it." "Yeah, I know. Otherwise, why would the World Will even drag us into this mess?" Veyron chuckled. "If that guy could save the world, it would've just let him do it." Then something clicked. He looked back at Merlin. "Did that last box mention the test subject's name?" "It did," Merlin nodded. "Apparently, he's Japanese—like the other survivors. Name was... Komuro Takashi." "...Seriously? So that human face on the flesh plant..." So it was him. Now it all made sense—why the original protagonist's name was missing from the list of survivors in Tokonosu City. Now it all made sense—why the original protagonist's name was missing from the list of survivors in Tokonosu City. So the protagonist became the flesh plant? What an ironic twist. All of this happened because of the world's will—its greed for evolution. The nobleman probably got the T-virus through the world's will, and Komuro Takashi was likely part of some long-term plan to save humanity. Naturally, he would've ended up as the only man left, surrounded by however many women. Still, Veyron couldn't help but be confused. Was this world mixed with part of Resident Evil? Or was it something else entirely? Everything was just a damn mess right now. "Whatever. I'm leaving this world soon anyway, so what's the point in wasting time chasing a truth that doesn't matter to me?" Veyron just shrugged. . . .